All I Do, Really, Is

I'm Sure I Can Make A Movie That Doesn't Feel Like A Seventies Movie! But The Truth Is, That's My Favorite Era In American Filmmaking. To Me, Those Were The Great Years.

People Ascribe A Certain Kind Of Silliness To The Movie Business. Everybody Feels Like, "in The Movies, They Do Crazy Stuff."

The First Thing That I Really Understood Politically And Was Old Enough To Get Was The Failed Assassination Attempt On Reagan.

To Answer The Question, Though: I Didn't Always Want To Direct. I Just Liked The Idea Of It. If A Friend Was Making A Short And Needed Someone Who Knew Screen Direction, I Would Jump In. It Would Be Horrible, But It Led To A Short, Then Another, And Another. It Was Like Student Films.

It's Been Reinforced To Me, And It's A Little Cliche, But I've Learned That You Can't Make A Movie That Even Works, Much Less That's Good, Without Really Good Writing And Really Good Acting. That Lesson Has Led Me To Not Be Distracted, So Much, By The Other Stuff Going On In Filmmaking And To Focus On The Essence Of A Story, And The Words And The Events And The Way That Those Are Interpreted By The Actors. That Philosophy Has Taken Me To A Place That I Really Like.